


Two Sides of the Same Coin

by magnetgirl



Category: Alien Nation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-20
Updated: 2006-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 09:13:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1643363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetgirl/pseuds/magnetgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt and George attend the company holiday gala.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Sides of the Same Coin

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to KillerDoll for the beta!
> 
> Written for deejay

 

 

 **Title:** Two Sides of the Same Coin

 **Fandom:** Alien Nation

 **Characters:** Matt  & George

 **Summary:** Matt and George attend the company holiday gala.

"I hate these things," Matt grumbled to his partner, tugging on the too tight bowtie around his neck. Cathy had said he looked distinguished when she'd tied it for him but Matt preferred jeans and an old sweater any day of the week and twice on Sunday. George raised an amused eyebrow.

"You could go without. I understand those long thin ties are all the rage." He said, repeating something his much more fashionable wife had told him earlier in the week.

"Not the tie. The party." Matt peered wearily into the ballroom. Decorations representing every possible December holiday adorned the stairs and dropped from the vaulted ceiling. Four long tables were laid out with various foods and two bar stations were set up opposite each other. A small army of detectives, administrators and government officials were already there, gobbling and chattering in groups. Matt gestured toward them and explained, "That. Eight hundred people I don't know all pretending we're one big community group filled with holiday cheer when in reality we're only here for the open bar and political possibilities." He paused, then added, " _And_ I have to wear a tie."

"So you say every year. I don't know why you attend." George was used to his partner's crankiness. It wasn't confined to holiday parties.

"Are you kidding? Captain would have my hide if I didn't show." Matt scowled and pulled on his tie again. George sighed.

_George remembered when he'd first met Matthew Sikes. The crash had  
given George and his family a new life, a real chance to live and they   
were so grateful, so excited. He was thrilled to be given a position in   
the LAPD. To be made an officer, a detective. To be partnered with   
a human as if he were any other cop on the force. But Matt hadn't   
been what he'd expected. He'd been unkempt, close-minded, irascible,  
angry. He'd been someone altogether different from the man George  
knew today. But as much as things changed they remained the same.   
And some of those things that had so annoyed George when they first  
met were now those things that made Matt Matt. His partner, his friend.   
His very best friend._

"Allow me." He swatted Matt's hand away and adeptly loosened the bow tie.

"Thanks." Matt said. "Guess that's as comfortable as it'll get."

"Nimble fingers." George raised a hand and wiggled his fingers in the air.

"Yeah. You're better at that than Cathy, I'll have to get you to do it from now on." Matt looked to the side. "Just, uh, don't let anybody know, though. I don't want those stories to start up again." Matt and George had stumbled upon a cache of fictional stories written about them in extremely compromising (and entirely unlikely) positions a few months back.

"Oh, I assure you, the stories are continuing without any help from us." George intoned bemusedly.

"What?" Matt asked alarmed.

" _GeorgeandMattinBed.com_ has at least five new stories a week," explained George.

Matt was dumbfounded. "Are you serious?"

"Oh, yes, Susan keeps me apprised. She is quite entertained by it all. Her favorite author, 'SikesSlave' -"

" _SikesSlave?!_ " Matt repeated, staggered by what being the Poster Child for Human and Alien relations got you.

"Yes. Susan tells me her stories are quite good. She apparently posted a Christmas story just last week. I believe it was in response to a challenge in which the participants must engage in walking in a winter wonderland which I daresay is a difficult challenge given our climate here in Los Angeles but SikesSlave is very adept at-"

"George," Matt interrupted. George looked over. "I don't want to know."

"Right." George smiled. "Sorry."

_Matt remembered when he'd first met George Francisco. When he  
had been told he was getting an alien partner he thought he must  
have drawn the short straw. When he met his straight-laced, obstinate,   
by the book partner he was certain of it. After a week he'd asked for  
a transfer. It was denied. He asked twice more before he realized  
everything about George that bugged him is everything that made  
them such good partners. They meshed. They fit. They worked.   
He stopped asking for a transfer. And he opened himself up to   
what ultimately became one of the most important relationships in   
his life._

"It's okay. Let's get this over with." Matt walked into the ballroom and George followed behind.

"Where is Cathy tonight?" George asked.

"She had to work. Could've switched shifts but I think she hates this kind of thing as much as I do. No point in us both being miserable."

"I think you would have a more enjoyable evening if you stopped expecting to have a bad time." George suggested. Matt shot him a look. "I know I would."

"I'm sorry if I'm bringing you down, George." Matt said. He gestured around the room. "I didn't know you were so into all this holiday cheer."

"I am simply pointing out that the city has set up this lovely room - "

" They can't rent a hall, gotta stuff us into a federal building," complained Matt.

" - laid out all these foods and drinks - " George continued undeterred.

"My Aunt Myrtle could come up with a better spread," whined Matt.

" - engaged a band - " Still George continued.

"Those hacks?" countered Matt.

"- and all to show their appreciation for our hard work, " George paused, waiting for the interjection he assumed was coming, but Matt simply snorted. "This party probably cost the city a hundred dollars a head, Matt."

"Our tax dollars at work."

George shook his head. "Matt, you are incorrigible."

"Yup." Matt smiled. "But you feel free to try and corrige me whenever you want. "

"I do not believe the word can be used as a verb, Matt."

"George?"

"Yes?"

"Let's get a drink."

_Matt Sikes and George Francisco were almost as different as two men  
can be. The LAPD's very own interspecies version of the Odd Couple.  
But they learned to appreciate those differences, to enjoy them even.   
They became two different sides of the same coin. _

 


End file.
